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Jonathan Gardner has a long career as a buyer with some of the world's biggest companies and he's now using the practical knowledge he acquired to help sales people pursue and close large accounts.

In this episode we talk about the challenges that people currently face and the benefits that Jonathan brings to them from being on the other side of the presentation or sales pitch.

Jonathan talks about what he calls the pitches that hit the mark and the ones that don't!

These are usually the ones where the presenter or pitchers focuses on talking about their capabilities and the features of their product or service rather than the benefits it offers to the audience or prospective client.

We also touch upon corporate slides and Jonathan suggests that if you have to use them then put most of them in the appendix and just leave one or two towards the beginning but tell a story around them because people love stories.

As Jonathan states the sales people who do well when they pitch are the ones who share things with their audience that they don't already know and they demonstrate that they have clearly thought about what the audience need and come up with some ideas to help them.

Jonathan's top tips are to have a storyline that fits in with your slide deck and to power map the room in other words know who is in your audience and then when you deliver the pitch be listening and watching all the time for signals that you can then utilise to your advantage.

Jonathan believes that the characteristics of great sales people today are their ability to listen, their knowledge of analytics, and to have a well rounded approach that means they can pivot and be flexible depending on how the pitch or presentation is progressing.

You could contact Jonathan via jonathan@thejgardnergroup our at JGarnergroup.com

If you need help from me click on these links if you want help with a key presentation or sales pitch - I'll help ensure you don't waste these golden opportunities.

Check out my new online training platform OnlinePresentationCourses.com

The main course is 'Transform your Business Presentations'

To find out more Trevor's sales and presentation skills services visit trevorjlee.com

Book a 15-20 minute informal no obligation no fee chat with Trevor Lee on Zoom. Simply click here:

I can help you transform your business presentations and win more sales pitches. Click on the links below to find out more and book a free 15-20 minute Zoom call with to discuss what you might need help with.

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My latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations

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Chris Marr is a client communication expert and the founder of The Authoritative Coach. He wants us not to be people pleasers.

As a coach Chris encourages his clients not to be people pleasers - instead to challenge those they are working with. The same applies to your presentation. Don't make it a people pleaser make it a people challenger. Your audience will get so much more from it if you take that approach.

Chris's top tip: What is your first question going to be when you present? - one that will both engage and challenge your audience from the start.

We talk about why it’s a good idea to bring up early a potential resistance or objection, why as a presenter you need to be respected before you are liked and why you need to adapt your presentation for your audience. So many presenters use the same presentation for every audience.

Chris has found that as a coach people want to be challenged and as a presenter you need to challenge your audience.

Chris shares his four step approach to presentations and speaking to audiences: Question : Story : Result : Challenge

You can find Chris at The Authoritative Coach and on Instagram under the same name.

I have 3 copies of Chris’s book ‘The Authoritative Coach’ to give away. Simple use the ‘Send a Text Message’ at the top of these notes and I’ll put you in the hat. Make sure you include your name and mailing address for the book. Please be aware that I can’t reply to these messages and they contain no contact details for you.

Click on these links if you want help with a key presentation or sales pitch - I'll help ensure you don't waste these golden opportunities.

Check out my new online training platform OnlinePresentationCourses.com - this is where you find courses which will help you become a better, more confident, more successful presenter at your own pace in your own time.

The main course is 'Transform your Business Presentations' - flows the 7 Steps to Successful Presentations model with all modules in video, audio, summary notes, checklists and slide PDF formats. As a podcast listener you can enjoy a 50% reduction by using the code 7steps50 at the checkout.

There is also a free taster course which will help you deliver your first ‘big’ presentation.

To f

I can help you transform your business presentations and win more sales pitches. Click on the links below to find out more and book a free 15-20 minute Zoom call with to discuss what you might need help with.

Presentation Training

Sales Training

15 Minute Free 'How can I help you' Zoom call

Trevor Lee Linked

Trevor Lee You Tube

My latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations

Send us a text

I recently ran a poll on LinkedIn asking that very question 'What makes a business presentation boring?'

Respondents were given a choice of four answers:

• The presenters voice
• The content of the slides.
• The length of the presentation.
• The presenters interaction with the audience.

It was a close run thing between the presenters voice and their interaction with the audience.

The results prompted this episode which you can also find on YouTube.

So I'm sharing with you some tips and ideas around all four of the subjects listed in the poll to ensure that next time you deliver a business presentation is definitely not boring!

Check out my new online training platform OnlinePresentationCourses.com - this is where you find courses which will help you become a better, more confident, more successful presenter at your own pace in your own time.

The main course is 'Transform your Business Presentations' - flows the 7 Steps to Successful Presentations model with all modules in video, audio, summary notes, checklists and slide PDF formats. As a podcast listener you can enjoy a 50% reduction by using the code 7steps50 at the checkout.

There is also a free taster course which will help you deliver your first ‘big’ presentation.

To find out more Trevor's sales and presentation skills services visit trevorjlee.com

Book a 15-20 minute informal no obligation no fee chat with Trevor Lee on Zoom. Simply click here: Trevor Lee 15 minute meeting

Check out Trevor’s latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations - all the royalties received go to the Children's Hospice South West

Thank you for listening and for leaving a rating / review. That is much appreciated.

I can help you transform your business presentations and win more sales pitches. Click on the links below to find out more and book a free 15-20 minute Zoom call with to discuss what you might need help with.

Presentation Training

Sales Training

15 Minute Free 'How can I help you' Zoom call

Trevor Lee Linked

Trevor Lee You Tube

My latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations

Send us a text

Effective communication is perhaps the single most important factor in business to quote my guest on this week’s Better Presentations More Sales podcast Steve Blue

Steve is the CEO of Miller Ingenuity, which creates high technology products that save lives and preserve the environment. He is a keynote speaker and has addressed audiences at Harvard Business School, The United Nations, Carnegie Hall, The Safe America Foundation, Industry Week, The World Safe Summit, CEO Clubs International, and Medtronic Corporation. Steve is the CEO in residence at Winona State University and author of 5 books. He works with executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking to learn how to maximize their company’s growth through fostering company culture and innovation.

Steve describes his communication style in three words: Action, Energy and Movement.

On the podcast he shares some great tips and ideas to help ensure that when you are delivering a presentation or sales pitch or a keynote that you avoid being a fuzzy communicator.

And Steve shares his three C’s of critical communication which are:

• to be Clear
• to have a Compelling message
• and to be Convincing

During the recording Steve shares ways in which you can be all of those, including recording yourself when you are communicating and then reviewing that with the help of someone who will help you identify where you are fuzzy and how to overcome that.

You can find Steve at https://www.stevenlblue.com

Check out my new online training platform OnlinePresentationCourses.com - this is where you find courses which will help you become a better, more confident, more successful presenter at your own pace in your own time.

The main course is 'Transform your Business Presentations' - flows the 7 Steps to Successful Presentations model with all modules in video, audio, summary notes, checklists and slide PDF formats. As a podcast listener you can enjoy a 50% reduction by using the code 7steps50 at the checkout.

There is also a free taster course which will help you deliver your first ‘big’ presentation.

Book a 15-20 minute informal no obligation no fee chat with Trevor Lee on Zoom. Simply click here: Trevor Lee 15 minute meeting

Thank you for listening and for leaving a rating / review. That is much appreciated.

I can help you transform your business presentations and win more sales pitches. Click on the links below to find out more and book a free 15-20 minute Zoom call with to discuss what you might need help with.

Presentation Training

Sales Training

15 Minute Free 'How can I help you' Zoom call

Trevor Lee Linked

Trevor Lee You Tube

My latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations

Send us a text

On Saturday August 3rd I took part in a coastal path running festival on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall.

The festival offered several options all finishing at race HQ near St Austell. I was in for the 32 miler. A single stretch from St Anthony’s Head.

I dropped out after 21 miles at the Gorran Haven checkpoint.

So what went wrong and what lessons can be learnt from that with regard to presenting and pitching?

On reflection my preparation wasn’t good enough.

I simply hadn’t done enough training. I’d been doing 60-70 miles a month but that wasn’t enough and my long training runs weren’t long enough.

I also got my fuelling wrong. I carried loads of gels and food with me. I simply didn’t eat enough of it, in the right order at the right times. My fault because I knew how to do this. My fuelling plan a]was too lax.

I’ve reflected a lot of what happened. And I’ve listened to others.

My big goal is the Arc of Attrition 50 miler at the end of January 2025. As I started to really struggle at around mile 16 my thoughts were that the Arc 50 was a ridiculous idea with no chance of me doing it.

However I’ve changed my mind on that. But I do need a four month training plan and a better fuelling strategy.

So how does this link to business presentations?

Inevitably they don’t always go to plan.

Why do presentations go wrong?

Very much like my run it’s combination of preparation and practice.

Generally speaking in my experience occasional business presenters underestimate how important to success preparation and practice are.

When you’re on a 32 mile run it’s obvious when you’ve under prepared

Maybe not so obvious when you deliver a business presentation

Whenever you’ve delivered a business presentation take some time afterwards to reflect on what happened:

Did you achieve your Purpose? In other words the outcome you were seeking?

Were your audience engaged throughout?

Did you have slides that weren’t actually needed or contained too many words?

How did you leave it with your audience - did you agree the next steps?

If there was a Q&A how did that go?

Did you run on time? If you didn’t why was that?

What would you do differently next time?

Whether we are running 32 miles or delivering a business presentation we can always do better time - if that’s what you want - and why wouldn’t you want that?

You can keep in touch with how I’m getting on via my Arc of Attrition Training Diary and the Running 44@60 podcast.

I can help you transform your business presentations and win more sales pitches. Click on the links below to find out more and book a free 15-20 minute Zoom call with to discuss what you might need help with.

Presentation Training

Sales Training

15 Minute Free 'How can I help you' Zoom call

Trevor Lee Linked

Trevor Lee You Tube

My latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations

Send us a text

How to add humour to your Presentations

Humour is an underestimated attribute in business and in business presentations and sales pitches.

Conor Cunneen is a master of helping business people add humour to their presentations without telling jokes or trying to be deliberately funny.

In this episode Conor shares tips, advice and ideas to help you add humour to your business presentation.

Conor is also a keynote speaker as well as working with individuals and organisations.

You can find Conor at Irishman Speaks

Conor's mantra is 'Improving People, Performance and Productivity with a SMILE'

OnlinePresentationCourses.com - this is where you find courses which will help you become a better, more confident, more successful presenter at your own pace in your own time.

The main course is 'Transform your Business Presentations' - flows the 7 Steps to Successful Presentations model with all modules in video, audio, summary notes, checklists and slide PDF formats. As a podcast listener you can enjoy a 50% reduction by using the code 7steps50 at the checkout.

There is also a free taster course which will help you deliver your first ‘big’ presentation.

To find out more Trevor's sales and presentation skills services visit trevorjlee.com

Book a 15-20 minute informal no obligation no fee chat with Trevor Lee on Zoom. Simply click here: Trevor Lee 15 minute meeting

Check out Trevor’s latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations - all the royalties received go to the Children's Hospice South West

Thank you for listening and for leaving a rating / review. That is much appreciated.

I can help you transform your business presentations and win more sales pitches. Click on the links below to find out more and book a free 15-20 minute Zoom call with to discuss what you might need help with.

Presentation Training

Sales Training

15 Minute Free 'How can I help you' Zoom call

Trevor Lee Linked

Trevor Lee You Tube

My latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations

Send us a text

It’s so easy when you’re invited to deliver a presentation to forget to check in advance the venue that you are going to be speaking at in terms of the size of the room, the equipment available and the seating for the audience.

I witnessed this firsthand recently at a business event. It was a big breakfast style event with 180 people squeezed into a rectangular space.

There were a few sponsor type speakers who in return for sponsoring the event had been offered a 5 to 10 minute slot.

I suspect none of them prior to the event checked the equipment that was going to be available to them, particularly in terms of the screen and the microphone.

The screen was a big TV on wheels which was fine if you were sitting close to the where the speaker was standing but for the rest of audience (about 80%) the screen wasn’t within their line of view.

So when the speakers used either slides or videos the vast majority of their audience could not see what they were showing and for the videos the audio was just coming out through the screen.

So check:
Screen size, positioning, video audio and clicker
Microphone
Speaking position in relation to audience.

You also need to check:
How you will be introduced
How any Q&A will work
And how much time you have for your presentation

OnlinePresentationCourses.com - this is where you find courses which will help you become a better, more confident, more successful presenter at your own pace in your own time.

The main course is 'Transform your Business Presentations' - flows the 7 Steps to Successful Presentations model with all modules in video, audio, summary notes, checklists and slide PDF formats. As a podcast listener you can enjoy a 50% reduction by using the code 7steps50 at the checkout.

There is also a free taster course which will help you deliver your first ‘big’ presentation.

To find out more Trevor's sales and presentation skills services visit trevorjlee.com

Book a 15-20 minute informal no obligation no fee chat with Trevor Lee on Zoom. Simply click here: Trevor Lee 15 minute meeting

Check out Trevor’s latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations - all the royalties received go to the Children's Hosp

I can help you transform your business presentations and win more sales pitches. Click on the links below to find out more and book a free 15-20 minute Zoom call with to discuss what you might need help with.

Presentation Training

Sales Training

15 Minute Free 'How can I help you' Zoom call

Trevor Lee Linked

Trevor Lee You Tube

My latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations

Send us a text

Sales Presentations can often be long, dull and ineffective

In this episode Will Barron founder of Salesman.com and host of the ‘Selling Made Simple’ podcast shares thoughts and advice to help you transform your sales presentations and pitches.

Will reminds us that simplifying the sales process is a key to sales success and that applies to sales interactions, sales pitches and sales presentations.

What a lot of sales people get wrong according to Will is that they don’t focus on what the buyer needs to make a decision - this particularly applies to the content of sales pitches and presentations.

Will reminds us not to use slides that focus on things that make the seller look good rather than helping the buyer make the next step.

What is it the buyer needs to see in the presentation? - finding that out pre-presentation will make such a difference to you achieving your desired outcome.

If you deliver virtually Will says that you have to be a far superior communicator to have the same impact virtually that you would in-person.

What does Will think about the future of sales? You might have less salespeople doing poor cold outreach but when the deal gets to a certain size you’ll want to speak to a human to conclude it.

Will top tips for Presentations:

1. Record your live presentation and watch it back - you can then check your body language and pacing and see if the audience actually care and are engaging with you
2. Take more pauses and vary the tone of your voice

If you want to develop your presentation skills in your own time at your own pace checkout my newly launched online presentation courses website

If you don’t like the idea of learning how to transform your business presentations in a group environment then take my online course Transform your Business Presentations and learn at your own pace. Use the code 7steps50 for an early adopter reduction.

Take the free taster course which shows you how to deliver your first ‘big’ presentation.

If you need any help with your presentations, either a key presentation or maybe some general presentation coaching or training then message me via LinkedIn.

Book a 15-20 minute informal no obligation no fee chat with me on Zoom. Simply click here: Trevor Lee 15 minute meeting

I can help you transform your business presentations and win more sales pitches. Click on the links below to find out more and book a free 15-20 minute Zoom call with to discuss what you might need help with.

Presentation Training

Sales Training

15 Minute Free 'How can I help you' Zoom call

Trevor Lee Linked

Trevor Lee You Tube

My latest book: 7 Steps to Successful Presentations